6 Famous Advertising Dogs

Gidget the Chihuahua, the famed Taco Bell mascot from 1997 to 2000, died of a stroke last week at the age of 15. While she settles in for a never-ending fifth meal at the 24-hour Taco Bell in doggie heaven, here's a look back at six other famous dogs in advertising.

1. Lady Greyhound

The Greyhound Corporation and running dog logo date back to 1930, but it was the introduction of a live mascot nearly 30 years later that helped establish the bus line as one of the leaders of the transportation industry pack. The company introduced "Lady Greyhound," a purebred Greyhound born in Clay Center, Kansas, on The Steve Allen Show in 1957. The white and gold dog with black eyes was just a 10-pound puppy at the time, but she would soon become the face of the franchise. By 1959, "Lady Greyhound," who often wore a rhinestone collar and tiara, had traveled across the country more than 50 times, making appearances at charity events along the way. She opened the new Greyhound terminal in Detroit by biting through a ribbon of dog biscuits, she posed for photos with Miss Universe Beauty Pageant contestants, and she was a regular guest on television shows throughout the country. The popularity of Lady Greyhound had waned by the early 1970s, but there's no denying the mark she left on the company.

2. Spuds Mackenzie

Spuds Mackenzie, a white English bull terrier with a black mark around her left eye, was introduced as the mascot for Anheuser-Busch during a 1987 Super Bowl ad. (Though the Spuds Mackenzie character was most definitely supposed to be a male, the dog in the commercials was actually a female named Honey Tree Evil Eye. Scandal!) For the next 2 years, the "ultimate party animal," whose voiceover was provided by Robin Leach, lived the high life. In a series of wildly successful commercials, Spuds traveled the world with three beautiful Spudettes as the canine predecessor to Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man in the World. One night Spuds was pole vaulting, the next he was playing the piano. Anheuser-Busch capitalized on Spuds' popularity by selling t-shirts, beach towels, and other merchandise bearing the dog's likeness. The campaign's success concerned some public interest groups, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), who believed Spuds was being used to market alcohol to kids. Anheuser-Busch dumped the dog in 1989 when it debuted the Bud Bowl. Honey Tree Evil Eye died of kidney failure in 1993.

3. Nipper

Nipper, a terrier who allegedly got his name because he would bite the legs of visitors, lived a rather uneventful life in England from 1884-1895. Today, he's one of the most iconic dogs in the history of advertising. Three years after Nipper's death, his owner, English painter Francis Barraud, painted a picture of Nipper staring into a phonograph machine and titled it, "His Master's Voice." Barraud shopped the painting to the Edison Bell Company, one of the leading manufacturers of phonographs at the time, but was turned down. The Gramophone Company agreed to buy the image if Barraud was willing to alter the image to resemble one of its machines. Barraud happily agreed, the image was patented in 1900 and Nipper was celebrated posthumously in advertisements beginning in 1901. Since then, Nipper has been used to promote products for several companies, including Victor and RCA.

In 1990, RCA introduced a 2-month old puppy, Chipper, who has appeared alongside Nipper in various advertising campaigns for the brand since then.

4. Axelrod

When it comes to your car, leave the worrying to Axelrod, the long-faced basset hound in the A-shaped doghouse. That was the gist of Flying A's advertising campaign during the 1960s, which starred the perpetually worried-looking hound pictured here. Axelrod, who lived in the "house that worry built," starred in several television and print ads for Flying A, a national service station business owned by Tidewater Petroleum. When Tidewater Petroleum's stations were purchased by Phillips 66 and Getty in 1966, Axelrod was retired.

5. Bullseye

Since 1999, a white bull terrier with a target painted over his or her left eye "“ or is that a birthmark? "“ has served as Bullseye, the mascot for Target stores. One of the most recent Target dogs is owned by David McMillan, founder of Worldwide Movie Animals, a company that specializes in training animals for use in movies and commercials. Bullseye travels with her own makeup artist, who applies the target using nontoxic red paint, and trainer, and makes about two dozen appearances each year. When she's not in the spotlight, Bullseye lives a fairly normal life. "She has about 20 playmates that she runs around with," McMillan told the Anchorage Daily News during Bullseye's guest appearance at the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. "Otherwise, she's just a dog. She does a lot of lying around."

6. Ubu Roi

If you watched Family Ties, Brooklyn Bridge or Spin City and didn't change the channel immediately after the last line of every episode, you're probably familiar with Ubu Roi. The black labrador retriever is the mascot for Gary David Goldberg's production company, Ubu Productions, Inc. At the end of Goldberg's aforementioned shows, a photograph of Ubu Roi holding a Frisbee appears. Off-screen, Goldberg says, "Sit, Ubu, sit!" and "Good dog!" before Ubu responds with a single bark. Ubu Roi, who is named after the 1896 satirical play by Alfred Jarry, died in 1984. Goldberg's autobiography is titled, Sit, Ubu, Sit.

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